Defense wins championships. That has been and always will be the mindset of some of the NBA’s greatest defenders of all time. None of them would necessarily call themselves the best defender, they’d just let their colleagues do it for them. Dwyane Wade remembers who used to give him problems on the court, and spoke about that during a recent edition of his podcast.
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Wade and his guests discussed Metta World Peace, the former Ron Artest, who made a major impact in the NBA for 18 seasons. The three-time NBA champion became very familiar with Metta’s game in his rookie year. “When I came into the league he was THE perimeter defender in the league,” said Wade. “I knew I was going to be really good in this league when I found out how to score on him.”
The group then broke down why Metta imposed on scorers so much, with Wade commending the former defensive player of the year’s footwork. “He didn’t go for fakes. He had great lateral movement so he could stay in front of you,” he added. Metta’s skills on that side of the ball were so fierce that Wade recalled he had to stop “playing with the game” and just focus on one offensive maneuver.
“You gotta make one move because if you make too many he’s going to put you in this bag. In a jail cell,” he said with a smile. Wade later specified that stuff like ball-handling was an area that Metta could sniff out.
And sniffed it out he did. Along with his DPOY accolade in 2004 he also was selected for the NBA All-Defense team twice. These vast skills proved important in 2010, when Metta won his first and only NBA Championship as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tony Allen once admitted that Wade’s offensive prowess motivated him
Another all-time NBA defender who played during Wade’s era was Tony Allen. Allen’s specialty was ball denial, a skill he “locked in” on whenever he faced Wade on the court. However, the Miami Heat legend was quite a handful moving without the ball, something Allen recalled during an old interview with Out The Mud.
“D-Wade was so motherf***ing good,” said Allen with a smile. “His back door cutting game, play off the ball, man I ain’t gonna lie, he motivated me.” Allen later did give himself some props and revealed that Wade had called him one of the hardest guards who ever defended him.
It’s cool to see that Wade relished the opportunity to play against the top defenders in the league in order to improve his game, and didn’t just stat pad playing guppies his entire life. He doesn’t stand alone with that mindset, but few had the same accolades as the now 43-year-old legend does.
